David Campbell Bannerman (ECR
).
– Mr President, as Chair of the Iraq delegation, I made it clear our priority must be to help destroy ISIS in Iraq, Syria and wherever it resides. I salute the courage of the Iraqi armed forces, and the Kurdish Peshmerga in particular, in their gruelling efforts to retake Mosul from the murderous tyrants of ISIS. Insha’Allah they will defeat ISIS and drive them out of Iraq.

A year ago I flew over Mosul and visited the Peshmerga on the front line. The fruits of that military success are already being seen and, for the first time in two years, church bells are rung in Bartella, a predominantly Christian town on Mosul’s outskirts. They leave behind, however, a bloodbath of victims – Christians, Yazidis, Turkmen Shiites and other minorities – and only now will we see the true extent of the underlying damage. The humanitarian challenge of 700 000 people needing help will be immense and so will the political challenge of what happens next.